The Last of Us TV adaptation continues to set records. After becoming the second most-viewed HBO premiere in a decade after House of the Dragon, Nielsen ratings reveal (via Collider) that the show registered the biggest ever pilot-to-episode-two growth for an HBO series.
The premiere episode of The Last of Us TV adaptation had been viewed by 4.7 million viewers in the United States on its debut night, while the second episode, aired two days ago on HBO, jumped to 5.7 million viewers, a 22% increase. For comparison, the critically acclaimed series Euphoria stopped at 2.4 million viewers for its premiere and 2.6 million viewers for its second episode.
Of course, The Last of Us has the huge advantage of being an established franchise capable of selling over 37 million copies as of December 2022 across the various games. Still, it is a testament to the success of what's being called the best gaming adaptation ever made, thanks to the faithfulness to the source material and the excellent performances of the cast (Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid, Merle Dandridge, Jeffrey Pierce, Lamar Johnson, Keivonn Woodard, Graham Greene, Elaine Miles, Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson). Overall, the premiere episode of The Last of Us TV has been viewed by over 18 million viewers, and that figure is likely to go up in the coming days and weeks.
However, PC gamers should probably wait before binging The Last of Us TV on HBO since they're finally getting The Last of Us Part I on March 3rd. Likely, Sony will soon release Part II as well on PC ahead of the upcoming The Last of Us multiplayer standalone game.
Meanwhile, sales of the games on PlayStation platforms have gone considerably up after the debut of The Last of Us TV show, following a phenomenon already seen with The Witcher.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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